Congratulations to Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers for defeating the Golden State Warriors Saturday night.

A few months ago, this would not have been an easy thing to write. There were still hard feelings. Still feelings of abandonment from someone we loved who turned his back on us. But it's time to move past all of that.

Yes, Doc wanted out, but can you really blame him? He didn't want to waste his prime coaching years going through another rebuild. He'd been there, done that. He wanted to keep winning, not suffer through a 25-win season with no definite timetable for when the team would be a contender again.

Look at where he went. Doc has on his roster a player who is arguably the best at his position, will certainly garner some MVP votes this year and is only getting better. He also has Chris Paul. I'm speaking of course of Blake Griffin who is the real deal. With a roster consisting of Griffin, Paul, DeAndre Jordan, Jamal Crawford, Darren Collison and J.J. Redick, who wouldn't want to coach that team? They are the definition of stacked. Throw in the added bonus of giving Doc an input on personnel decisions and it was an offer far too good to pass up.

I'm not a big believer in fate or destiny, but Doc being the coach of the Clippers during the whole Donald Sterling fiasco couldn't have been more perfect. Can you think of how it would have gone down if Vinny Del Negro was still the coach? Or if L.A. hired Brian Shaw or some other coach instead of Doc? He was the right guy for the task and did a masterful job speaking as the voice of the organization and still keeping his team's focus on the playoffs. No one would have faulted the team if they simply couldn't compete in the wake of their owner being banned for life following his racist comments and they ended up getting bounced out of the first round. But they didn't get bounced. They beat the Warriors in spite of the controversy. Well done sir.

For those who still aren't ready to forgive and forget with Doc, remember Boston made out alright themselves with their new coach. Here's a recent video of Brad Stevens talking to a fan:

Edit: Turns out that may not have been Stevens after all, but the sentiment still rings true.